PEMBROKE -- Bryan County Coach Cherard Freeman can only speculate about his team’s season and what it would have meant to win one more game.

The Redskins (3-7, 2-5 Region 3A) closed their season last Friday night at home with a 27-20 win over Portal that left them shaking their head about missed opportunities.

In Freeman’s second year it was one of marked progress.

Bryan County’s win total was the most since the 2016 team was 3-6 and the 138 points scored was the most since the 2015 playoff team scored 166. That was also the last season the Redskins were in the postseason.

“I feel like it was a good year,” Freeman said. “We let a couple of what I thought were winnable games get away from us.”

The Redskins came tantalizingly close to making the GHSA Class A Public playoffs as they finished one-game behind fourth-place Screven County which was 3-4 in region play.

However, one of the Gamecocks’ region losses was to Bryan County, 14-12, which meant a win over either Claxton or Jenkins County would have the Redskins playing this Saturday.

“It was a great way to end the season,” Freeman said of the win over Portal. “If we had beaten Claxton, we would have been in.”

“We let the Claxton game get away from us and the Jenkins County game, too,” Freeman said. “But that was a young team we put on the field.”

“For a young team like ours to hold it together week in and week out is tough.”

The biggest question hanging over the program now is whether it will be playing in Class A next year where it is competitive or in Class AA which is where GHSA placed it in last week’s reclassification.

“We’re appealing that,” Freeman said. “We were about 10 kids over. We would be the smallest school in Class A but our biggest concern is the additional travel which would be required of our kids.”

The GHSA was to make a ruling Wednesday on the school’s appeal along with numerous others from across the state.

Losing to Claxton (27-0) was a bummer as it came the week after beating Screven County and the Tigers were winless going into the game.

Bryan County had high expectations, but Claxton broke it open in the second half and the hangover carried into the following week, a 34-14 loss at Jenkins County.

The Redskins broke the state’s longest losing streak at 24 when they opened with a 34-12 win over Butler and later with the win at Screven ended a 26-game region games losing skein.

“I wouldn’t say it was a big challenge when I came here (from Warren County),” Freeman said. “But it has been a challenge. I feel like we’ve done everything there is to be done.”

“The kids are putting in the work in the weight room and the administration has been very supportive. We’ve just got to continue to change the culture.”

Senior Naythan Lee closed out his career with two touchdowns against the Panthers, sophomore Sean Kelly Hill scored on a pick six and junior Konnor Leggett hauled in one of freshman Trevor Lanier’s two touchdown passes, Lee catching the other one.  

“It was good to see Naythan score in his last game for us,” Freeman said. “He’s a good kid who has worked hard and stayed with the program for four years.”

Lee was one of six seniors on a 41-man roster. The Redskins had five juniors and the rest of the team was made up of sophomores and freshmen.

“We started the season with 53 players,” Freeman said. “I think eventually we can get it to 50 staying with it for a full season.”

The Redskins will continue to build around a nucleus of sophomores Austin Clemons, Jacari Carney, Hill, Tanner Ennis, and Erin Greene along with Lanier.